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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I agree with you on z32's recordings: they sound amazing, studio quality. I wondered myself how to achieve such effects, probably a combination of excellent piano playing and quality recording equipment and software. I don't really have any of those

I hope so! Those 16th notes using the 4th finger on the last page... ugh! Nancy, will you be moving on to Book 3? I ordered the book two days ago since I'm aproaching the end of Book 2.

I will be moving onto Book 3, probably in the fall. I already bought it years ago when I was almost finished working on book 1. I realized I liked the format and didn't want to have to wait to order the next one.

I'm Canon in D crazy right now - I'm working on the Dan Coates version. I just started working on page 4, then it'll need a lot of smoothing out. (And I still want to record the Alfred version too - but I need a quiet house for that, and it's difficult with 2 kids aged 5 and 7)

Now remember, I have been off of my lessons for a few years! I didn't think I could get back into the mood of playing again this quickly. Also, this piece probably took me the longest to learn out of all the pieces I have played in both books.

Waltz - yes, it is nicely under control - technically your execution is smooth & commendable - good job!

However, at some point you might want to give consideration to adding a bit of expressiveness (or what is commonly referred to as "musicality") to your performances - this would be your own personal touch, driven more by your emotional involvement with a piece rather than merely the mechanics of playing at tempo without mistakes - this is what gives a performance interest and "color" and "listenability" - I think this will come with more time, control and experience, but try to work it in little by little as you go forward in your studies.

Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!

Regards, JF

_________________________
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin

I'm going back to songs I did before and I'm recording them. It's a whole new experience in playing when you have to record! There's no fooling yourself thinking that you got the piece well when you really didn't. Here I tried to do it as written with the dynamics, etc. I'm sure I can still do better, but at least it's better than when I did it before.

Having said that, and even though I enjoy hearing good praise (I'm only human), I'd really appreciate your critique... anything you don't like, tempo, rushed, slow, skipped a note, didn't hold long enough, didn't lift right hand or left hand, didn't do the dynamics right, etc. I promise I won't take anything personal...any honest comment is worth a million to me.

Waltz - yes, it is nicely under control - technically your execution is smooth & commendable - good job!

However, at some point you might want to give consideration to adding a bit of expressiveness (or what is commonly referred to as "musicality") to your performances - this would be your own personal touch, driven more by your emotional involvement with a piece rather than merely the mechanics of playing at tempo without mistakes - this is what gives a performance interest and "color" and "listenability" - I think this will come with more time, control and experience, but try to work it in little by little as you go forward in your studies.

Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!

Regards, JF

Thanks JF !

I wish I could add a musical touch, but I struggle as it is to simply play most of these pieces.

Speaking of struggling, I really am with Canon in D. A couple of days ago I just hit a wall with it. Holding down half notes with my RH 5 finger while playing eighth notes with my RH 1, 2, and 3 fingers is very, very uncomfortable and I tend to make errors. Many of the errors are simply not hitting the notes firmly enough, and this happens very frequently. I just don't have the dexterity or strength I guess. This mostly occurs on the last two lines of page 2 and the first line of page 3. I just can't play them solidly.

It's sort of ironic that I had thought the LH octave jumps would be my difficulty. Yet, I've mastered them quite well, as I have page 4. But the second half of page 2 and top of page 3 are a struggle. I have been really working hard for a week now on this piece and I hope to be able to pass it in the next few days. Of course, after I "pass" it I'll still play it for many days, but I'm ready to move on to learning something new, instead of this bitter stalemate with the Canon in D.

I'm going back to songs I did before and I'm recording them. It's a whole new experience in playing when you have to record! There's no fooling yourself thinking that you got the piece well when you really didn't. Here I tried to do it as written with the dynamics, etc. I'm sure I can still do better, but at least it's better than when I did it before.

Having said that, and even though I enjoy hearing good praise (I'm only human), I'd really appreciate your critique... anything you don't like, tempo, rushed, slow, skipped a note, didn't hold long enough, didn't lift right hand or left hand, didn't do the dynamics right, etc. I promise I won't take anything personal...any honest comment is worth a million to me.

Way to go! Once again, flawless performances. Overture is such a pretty thing to hear but you also made Down in the Vally sound nice too, even if it is a simple little piece. As many say, it's the mark of a great player, the one that can make any piece of music sound beautiful.

Waltz, yeah I went and took a listen to JF recording, and I see what you mean, I'll try that next time. Actually, I think JF did a very good job on this piece, much better than his other recordings that I listened to. I don't know if he agrees with me on that, but this is the first piece I felt he played real well (as in 10/10). Also, thanks Waltz for the comment on the other thread on the Sudnow method.

Canon in D is killing me. I made nice progress for the first 5 or so days on this piece, but since then I am not sure I've improved much.

There is not any one part that I cannot play, I've learned the entire piece. But no matter how much I practice, I cannot put the whole piece together, and play it smoothly, and without making 10 or 15 errors or becoming sloppy.

I don't really know what to do, I feel like I'm going no where with this. . .

On the positive side, you truly amaze me Waltz with your stamina and "fighting spirit", if I may say so. I know how hard it gets with these pieces when I tried them years ago and got really discouraged a couple of times...then stopped completely and went on to other ways and means. Of course I'm back now, and I intend to crush L2 before year's end.

When I see your progress, you are marching on very strongly...I'm sure you'll be just fine. Taker a day off from practice, rejuvenate and hit it again. I remember pieces I thought were impossible for me to do (look at my recent ARB piece and how I thought it was a tough nut to crack), but all in a sudden after letting your internal system digest it for a while, it becomes easy and natural.

Canon in D is killing me. I made nice progress for the first 5 or so days on this piece, but since then I am not sure I've improved much.

There is not any one part that I cannot play, I've learned the entire piece. But no matter how much I practice, I cannot put the whole piece together, and play it smoothly, and without making 10 or 15 errors or becoming sloppy.

I don't really know what to do, I feel like I'm going no where with this. . .

I feel like I keep giving you advice on this, yet I haven't finished the piece fully. I keep meaning to - but lately we're having 90+ degree weather, and with no a/c it's hard to sit at the piano

If you keep making mistakes in large quantity - you should slow down. Try to go through the whole piece slowly and see if that improves your rate. It will give you time to look ahead a bit and anticipate what's coming.

If there are transitions that are rough, work on those couple of measures many times over. I had a problem between page 2 and 3 because that's where I had to turn the page and I took forever to copy the pages so I had programmed in a pause with my playing. Once I copied the pages and could put them next to each other, for a while when I practiced I would do the bottom of page 2 and the top of page 3 a few times over.

My last thought on this is - take a break for a bit. Tinker around with some other music; play stuff you know pretty well. This is supposed to be fun, remember? Then go back and work on it.

And I vow that next week when it's cooler weather I will attempt to make a recording so you can point out all the areas I still need to work on with the same piece. (and there are probably a few)

Thank you both for the replies. They were exactly what I needed. I think I'll just slow down a bit and take off some of the pressure. I'll get to book 3 when I get to book 3, there really isn't a need to rush. My biggest problem with the piece, as of now, is the bottom of page two. But I think you are right, I need to give this haste a rest and enjoy myself. Thanks,

Sorry to hear that you're having a tough time with Canon. You'll get it. Don't give up. Sometimes, when I have a hard time with something and take a short break from it, when I sit down to work on it again it seems to come easier.

I'm still working on Pomp and Circumstance. It's taking longer than I thought it would. The left hand part jumps all over the keyboard.

As for P and C, I think it is generally accepted that it is the one piece that is much harder than it looks. Just glancing at the sheet music one would think it to be straight forward, but playing it is actually tricky and challenging.

I think Canon in D is coming along slightly better today, now that I have really focused on slowing it down and really controlling my hands. But I still think I'll be here for a while.

O.K., I officially passed Canon in D this morning! At around 25 minutes into my morning practice I played it from beginning to end smoothly and without error. It felt odd when I hit the last chord and realized I finally did it, kind of a let down.

Just now I practiced it for another 20 minutes on my lunch and couldn't repeat this morning's success. Mainly it's just luck, because the piece is long and taxes the stamina. Also, the difficulty is in the fact that, although there are repeated themes, there are absolutely no verbatim repeats in the entire piece. It's easy to zig when you should zag etc. and make errors that, even if overlooked, totally ruin the flow of the playing the piece, at least for me, and I become sloppy.

Anyway, I have now begun work on Book 3 . However, my work in Book 2 is not yet done. While I learn the first two songs of Book 3, I will continue to spend, at least, 1/3 - 1/2 of all my practice time working on polishing and improving Canon in D. So, perhaps for a week or so longer I'll be in Book 2 and Book 3 together, but will remain on this thread.

Congrats! I feel like that's where I am with it. I can play it reasonably well; but not without making a few errors as I go through it. I haven't cracked open book 3, but will be soon. See you over in that thread

Way to go Waltz! That's a big achievement no doubt! Ask me, I quit L2 some 6 or 7 years ago as I just hit a wall... However, I didn't have a teacher for L2, I did for L1. Now, I feel with this forum, I might be able to pull it off and finish L2 before end of year. But you are great for dong it all non stop. More power to you.

Congrats!! Well done, now get on over here to #3. Actually I've had a rough 2-3wks (work) so my initial start to #3 was stalled, not going as good as I'd like, will be nice to have some familiar faces around....

Congrats! I feel like that's where I am with it. I can play it reasonably well; but not without making a few errors as I go through it. I haven't cracked open book 3, but will be soon. See you over in that thread

Thanks Nancy

I'm not leaving this thread just yet, but I'll certainly see you in 3 when we get there. As far as CiD, I feel we probably both play it similarly. I can play each part very well, but playing the whole thing together, I can't help but botch certain parts, even though they aren't that difficult for me. It just takes a lot of focus, stamina, and concentration (redundant, I know).